inside that truck which is cobalt 60, to make a dirty bomb. first now to the active search however. the mexican officials are looking for the stolen truck and alerted the international atomic be energy agency in geneva which put out an international advisory. u.s. law enforcement officials tell cnn the government has skens cores at border crossings. agents are carrying portable devices which kk scan vehicles. it s not clear that the thieves were after the cobalt 60 inside. they say the truck also carried waste and scrap material which may have been the reason the truck was skarthed but it may have been that the cobalt 60 was inside. this material is used for brain imaging and to treat cancer, wolf. it is highly radio active. how difficult would it be to weaponize this material? experts are telling us it would be fairly difficult. it s usually in lead casing which it is in this case. it s not easy to remove it from
it s usually transport indeed lead casing. mexican authorities say if it s removed from that. translator: the raid ag, gamma-rays in this case, is harmful and dangerous to your health. reporter: security officials have long been concerned that cobalt-60 cooling used by terrorists in a so-called dirty bomb like those seen in this simulation. i asked a homeland security expert if ache truck ball exploded at a crowded city corner damage the buildings, you ll have injuries and fatalities from the explosion. but the dirty ball, and it s a dirty ball, because it has about this much cobalt-60, it s going to contaminate the area. it s not an immediate threat to public health, but you could not live or work here for the next year or so if it were not cleaned up. it could increase your probability of cancer. reporter: experts say it wouldn t be difficult to put cobalt-60 in a conventional ball. so when the device explodes, the
material that would be ejected would have this radioactive material on it. reporter: law enforcement officials tell cnn there are a lot of safeguards in place to prevent this material from crossing the border, sensors, devices carried by agents, all border crossings have been alerted by the department of homeland security, but u.s. officials say it is not clear if the thieves were actually after the cobalt-60 or even knew it was inside the truck when they stole it. the police report doesn t clarify that, either. no, we have details of this report. it says the driver and his stand were resting, when a man with a gun rapped on the window and demanded the keys. they were taken out, hand and feet bound, they were told not to move. they heard one assailants use, and say, quote, it s done. that speaks to some organization, but it does not indicate they were actually after that cobalt-60. brian, thanks very much.
happened on monday at a gas station in a town near mexico city. officials with the international atomic energy agency are reporting now that the truck was delivering a load of cobalt 60 from a hospital in tijuana to a storage center for radioactive waste. a sort of routine matter. the doctors say they use cobalt 60 to treat cancer, but the experts are saying in theory terrorists could potentially use it to make a so-called dirty bomb which uses conventional explosives to spread radiation. those same authorities say this image shows workers preparing to transport the shipment of cobalt 60. the u.n. warns that the substance would be extremely dangerous. and that s a quote, if someone were to damage it or remove it from the protective casing. casey ste gal live in our newsroom in dallas. who knows if the people who got the truck had any clue what was in the back of the truck. maybe they just wanted the truck. but now they have cobalt 60. how dangerous is it?
decommissioned. cobalt 60 which is far more radioactive than. this both materials are very dangerous. and lethal as you point out. couple things though, james, one we don t know who it is in the hands of. we don t know if it s gotten into the hands of people like might be accidental thieves. we don t have any information that s gotten into terrorist hands. somebody might have come across there is people thieves like accidently taking different things perhaps they don t know the significance or important stuff. yes, it s most probable they don t know the significance of it it s got virtually no commercial value at all. and so the police are saying people who identify themselves can actually receive medical treatment. five people previously dead and survived. people who don t receive medical treatment could easily die. all right james. thank you so much for that update. and now to exploive new information in the bowe bergdahl case. well, it turns out the president s top militar